Before I go to Sleep

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Ø Title: Before I go to Sleep

Ø Author: S. J. Watson

Ø Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Mystery

Ø Rating: 5/5 stars

Ø Why I read this book: Was recommended to me on a website that I stumbled upon.

Ø About the Book: This book is about a girl who has retrograde amnesia; she loses her memory every night after she goes to sleep. At the advice from a doctor she starts keeping a journal about her everyday life. In it she accounts conversations with her husband (Ben), her doctor, and her friends. Their stories don’t add up and Christine starts to get suspicious.

This book is a page turner, gripping the reader as soon as you see the words “Don’t Trust Ben” during the beginning few chapters of the book. I enjoyed the plot twist in this book; it wasn’t until the beginning of the last chapter that I started to piece this mystery together. The story was well written and played out in a way that left the reader guessing.

Ø Recommendation: I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery and anyone that enjoys being sucked into a story.

House

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3/5 Stars

“House” by Frank Peretti  and Ted Dekker is written in a very simple way. It uses words that have no flair and starts out in a very cliché manner. A husband and a wife are directed down an old dirt road as a “shortcut”, once they have driven several miles their tires blow out and are forced to take refuge in an old house… that is occupied with “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” rejects. The basement of this house is reminiscent of “House of Leaves”, always changing as you walk through it. The occupants of the house were given the set of rules written on a can:

1.       God came into my house and I killed him.

2.       I will kill anyone that comes into my house as I killed God.

3.       Give me one dead body, and I might let rule two slide.

You have until dawn.

And the struggle for survival began. Because, when people are given the choice between their own life and someone else’s, it comes down to the question, “Do I kill or be killed?”

As I read I do not get a sense of actually being there, I do not feel like I am watching these events take place. I feel like someone is trying to tell me a story, but they aren’t painting a very good picture. I continue to read to see if the “twist” at the end is as good as other reviews have stated.

The twist in this book was predictable; I saw it coming from the beginning. Also, with no religious talk throughout the rest of the book, the last few pages push religion on the characters and ultimately, the reader. Being a Christian, this doesn’t bother me; however, it is not something I want to read in a novel meant to scare me.

Side Note: Apparently, a few years back “House” was turned into a movie. Also, I had seen the movie previously and gave it a four out of five star rating on Netflix. I have no recollection of this. After watching the trailer, I still don’t remember this movie.